


just one night

by aislingdoheanta



Series: Robert Week 2018 [1]
Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Canon Compliant, Comfort, Episode Related, Episode Tag, Feelings, Gen, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-10
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-07-10 17:09:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15953813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aislingdoheanta/pseuds/aislingdoheanta
Summary: After their night of drinking, Aaron stays over on Vic’s sofa. After he feel asleep on Robert. Set during Aaron’s trial. Coda Fic to episode 29 Feb 2016Written for Day One of Robert Week - “ Write a scene you felt was missing, from your favourite Robert era.”





	just one night

**Author's Note:**

> I participated in Robert week over on [my tumblr](http://saras-almanac.tumblr.com/tagged/rw2018) and am now working on transferring the fics over to ao3 now that I have a little bit of time.

Aaron had fallen asleep on Robert’s shoulder and Robert was not sure what to do. He wanted to just gently wake Aaron up and walk him to Robert’s room for some proper sleep, but they weren’t together, not really, and he knew that Aaron just wanted them to be mates right now.

And Robert could do that. It was just a whole lot easier when the man he was slightly still in love with wasn’t asleep on his shoulder, with one hand gently grabbing onto Robert’s shirt.

It had been innocent; the entire night had been innocent. Just a couple drinks between mates, something to lift Aaron’s spirits. Robert had even gotten along with Adam for most of the night. It was fun, normal in a way things had never been for him and Aaron.

Chas staring him down caused Robert to disappear to the bar, just to try and show her what they had done for Aaron. She’d asked Robert to make sure something stuck and this was what did. It killed him that Aaron was feeling any guilt at all, but it would be worth it in the long run, it had to be.

Robert had returned with another round and carefully rested his arm on the back of Aaron’s chair. Aaron had simply shifted just a fraction closer to him and that was all Robert wanted.

When Vic and Adam were ready to head out, Robert had gotten up to go with them before Aaron had grabbed his arm and said softly, “You’re not going already, are ya?”

Robert realized that Aaron wanted this night to continue, so Robert suggested they all head over to Vic and Adam’s for another beer, maybe watch a film or something.

After getting to the house and everyone had a drink in hand, they all settled in for an episode of some period piece that Vic was really into—surprisingly so was Adam. Robert honestly hadn’t been able to pay attention because he was so overly aware of Aaron sitting right next to him. His entire left side was warm from Aaron and he just wanted to reach out and cuddle like Vic and Adam were doing.

Adam and Vic went up to bed and Aaron suggested one more beer and Robert wasn’t about to send him home alone. So he got up to get another couple beers as Aaron put on an episode of Top Gear for them. Robert put his left arm along the back of the sofa as he stretched his legs out on the table in front of him. After a few minutes, Aaron hesitantly curled a bit into Robert’s side.

By the end of the episode, Aaron had fallen asleep and Robert hadn’t been able to move for fear of waking Aaron up. Robert didn’t want to disturb his sleep because he was pretty certain that Aaron hadn’t been sleeping very well. A tad more selfish reason he didn’t want to wake Aaron up was because he was enjoying having Aaron so close to him.

“Time is it?” Aaron mumbled quietly, shifting around.

“Uh,” Robert said and glanced down at his watch. “Going on half one.”

“Why didn’t ya wake me?” Aaron asked.

“You looked like ya needed it,” Robert said. “And I was just about to.”

Aaron shook his head. “Liar.”

“All right, I wasn’t about to wake you up,” Robert said. “But I was thinking about it.”

Aaron chuckled and Robert was overly aware of the fact that Aaron hadn’t moved from where he was curled into Robert still. “Suppose I should get home.”

“You can always kip here,” Robert said.

“What, with you?” Aaron asked.

“I’d never turn that down,” Robert said. “But also just on the sofa if you want. Vic won’t mind.”

“Yeah,” Aaron said. “Sounds good.”

Robert reluctantly pulled away from Aaron and got up to collect their empty cans and find a pillow and some blankets for Aaron. Aaron had blearily sat up to take off his shoes.

“Found this for ya,” Robert said as he passed Aaron the pillow.

“Cheers,” Aaron said. He placed it at the end of the sofa and laid down on, curling up as tight as he could on the sofa.

Robert gently laid the blanket over him, just like had had weeks ago. Aaron smiled at him and Robert fiddled with it to make sure it was covering Aaron properly.

“Thanks for tonight,” Aaron said.

“What do you mean?” Robert asked.

“Just… thanks for giving me one night to not have to think about Gordon or the trial or anything like that.” Aaron sighed.

Robert smiled down at him and squeezed Aaron’s shoulder. “Anytime. I’m always good for a distraction.”

It had the desired effect and Aaron laughed softly. “Arrogant of ya, eh?”

“Not arrogant if it’s true,” Robert argued.

Aaron shook his head.

“Night, Aaron,” Robert said.

“Yeah. Night.”

 


End file.
